Now if I could vault over the big fence I could walk it in 10 minutes, but I can't so walking takes me 15 minutes if I'm on my own, and up to about 45 minutes with LO who, at this time of year, has to stop and smell every single daffodil, dandy lion and tulip along the way.

If I can go alone, I prefer to go on bike though, which cuts it down to about 7 or 8 minutes.
If I didn't have a plot at that site, I would take one at one of the next closest, which would be an extra 10 minutes on my bike, but I wouldn't take Katie that until she's able to ride her bike with me.
I only occasionally use the car if I need to take or collect something that I can't manage any other way, like when I took my compost bins there. I have managed to acquire a duplicate set of garden tools so that I can keep one set at home and the other at the allotment so that I'm not constantly carrying them. Some people think that's risky as there have been instances of sheds being broken into, but the shed at the allotment is probably more secure than my home shed with all the fences and razor wire, plus there are scores of sheds to choose from and I'd have to be pretty down on my luck for them to pick mine. Whenever people have reported break-ins, it seems the kids are more bothered about taking knives

rather than spades. I'm also rather skeptical about the reports of break-ins. It seems that people are still telling the stories of things that happened back in the 80s, and a recent break-in, when someone apparently removed palings from the fence, broke into a big storage container and stole a generator was told to me by the same woman who reckons she, on her own, chased a load of kids who had knives down the allotment path and over the (very tall and topped with razor wire) fence.

Not saying she makes things up, but if she's in the right mind she wouldn't chase a load of knife-brandishing youths on her own. Hmm.
Erm, yeah! So mine's pretty close and I would travel, but not too far. Just remembered that the bus that passes my house also passes another allotment site, so that would be an option, even with Katie.